Connecticut: A new study suggests that some viruses can alter their body odor to make them more attractive to mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes are the world's deadliest organisms, killing more than a million people a year, spreading diseases such as malaria, Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever, according to a foreign website. When a
mosquito bites a person infected with a virus, the virus can be transmitted to the next person bitten by the infected person. Body temperature, exhaled carbon dioxide, and smell are all factors that help mosquitoes choose their next target.
Early studies have shown that mice with malaria have an altered sense of smell that makes them more attractive to insects.
Professor Weng said the researchers placed mice infected with dengue or Zika and uninfected mice in a glass chamber. In the chamber, mosquitoes were attached to glass arms.
He said that when the researchers blew air into the chamber to transmit the scent of the mice to the mosquitoes, most of the mosquitoes preferred to fly toward the infected mosquitoes.
When they installed filters to block the rat odor, the ratio of mosquitoes on both sides became the same, he said.
He said that out of 20 chemical compounds found in the odor of infected rats, three are compounds that make mosquitoes wary. One of these three compounds is acetophenone, which attracts more mosquitoes.